Nurse accused of causing Windsor Hills crash that killed 6 people found guilty of murder charges
A jury found a nurse guilty in a fiery crash in Windsor Hills that killed six people, including an infant and a pregnant woman.
Nicole Lorraine Linton, 41, was convicted of six counts of second-degree murder after she drove her Mercedes-Benz through a red light at the intersection of Slauson and La Brea Avenues in August 2022. Her car slammed into several other vehicles, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The six people killed in the crash included members of one family: 23-year-old Asherey Ryan, the child she was pregnant with, her boyfriend, 24-year-old Reynold Lester, the father of her unborn son, and her infant son, Alonzo, who was about to celebrate his first birthday.
Also killed during the crash were 38-year-old Lynette Noble and 43-year-old Nathesia Lewis.
Family members of some of the victims spoke outside the courthouse after the jury read its verdict on Friday, chanting "justice for the Slauson six."
"This was not an accident," Ryan's sister, Shaseana Kerr, said. "This was someone who wanted to take himself out and others with her."
Surveillance video of the crash showed Linton's Mercedes speeding through a red light in a 35-mph zone on La Brea Avenue at a speed authorities estimated was about 100 mph and broadside another vehicle, which exploded into flames. The impact caused the vehicle to crash into at least one other vehicle, and both ended up against a gas station sign on the corner of the intersection.
Eight vehicles in total, including Linton's, were involved in the crash.
"But I'm so happy that God has given us, has given the families justice. And although she's (Linton) the one who has to remain in prison, we'll still all be prisoners of grief because grief doesn't end," Kerr said.
Prosecutors said Linton had a history of mental health issues and a problematic driving history, including a lack of a California driver's license and her involvement in a 2020 traffic collision with bodily injury.
Following the crash, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors called for a series of studies and immediate steps aimed at slowing traffic at the intersection.
On the one-year anniversary of the crash, a memorial bench honoring the Slauson 6 was unveiled at the intersection of Slauson and La Brea avenues.
"Justice for our families, for all the innocent lives that were taken, including innocent children. So this has been a long journey. It's been extremely hard. So much grief," Lewis's sister Jasmond Nelson said. "And even though we have justice, grief doesn't change; it doesn't stop."
